Smart mooring for safe and efficient ocean energy production – SMARTMOORING

The SMARTMOORING project focuses on the development and validation of moored marine energy systems that will enable data-driven design optimizations, predictive maintenance procedures, and in-operation optimization of energy yield. The smart mooring systems will contribute to ocean energy units with higher reliability, significantly better power conversion efficiency and lower LCOE. The technologies that will be developed and validated have relevance to a broader set of applications, including floating wind/solar, as well as in applications outside the energy sector. The concept relies on fibre optic sensing, integrated in mooring components, providing real-time information of the component’s shape, load, vibration signature, and temperature along the entire length of the
component. Several challenges at different levels (fibre-optic sensing, fibre integration in mooring components, modelling,
and testing) will be addressed in the project, bringing the technologies from TRL2 to TRL5. The value created by the project output will be demonstrated in two use cases in the project: a mooring rod in the wave energy converters (EC) of CorPower Ocean, and a carbon tether in the tidal EC of Minesto. These EC stakeholders anticipate significant economic, environmental, and operational efficiency gains by having access to the SMARTMOORING sensors, in design phases and in field operation.